Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

Man, the Decatur Livestock Market really leaned into it in their cattle prices report back in the day. 

---

• Wise County Sheriff's Officer jail/court database is down again.
  
  
  
• A small plane owned by Veruca Salt LLC, crashed about 6:30 p.m. yesterday evening along U.S. 380 near the Bridgeport airport. The pilot, 62, was airlifted to JPS. The passenger, 58, was transported by ambulance. Neither person is local.  And the best I can tell, neither are associated with the alt-rock band Veruca Salt. 
  

  

  

  
  

  
  
  
  
• Yesterday's "10 Years Ago" feature at the top had a 2013 story about a Bridgeport substitute teacher beaning a kid in the head with a ball. A faithful reader found the video on CNN's website. 
  
  
  
• These crime-creation police stings sure have been making a comeback.  And although I like Lake Worth's police chief, these police traps just clog the courts and simply feel wrong.  And this one was called "Operation April Fools." <groan>
  
  
  
• This tweet by conservative Republican Texas Rep. Jeff Leach got him sued for defamation by a MAGA disciple. That's clearly free speech by Leach and another example of MAGA Republicans strong-arm tactics.
  

     

  
  
  
  
• And he got served with the lawsuit by a process server who registered to testify on a random bill and then got up and served Leach who was serving as the chairman of the committee. Video.
  
  
  
• Quite the truck fire on 114 going into Dallas yesterday.
  
   
  
  
  
• One down. Three more to go. The Sheriff in Oklahoma needs to go next because of this mess.
  
  
  
• The city of Denton now has someone with a needle waiting for you at the jail. 
  
  
  
• A proposed book banning statute made it out of the Texas House yesterday. Banning "sexually explicit" books from "school libraries" sounds great but the problem is that it has such a vague definition that, depending on who is in charge at the local school, it will be a free-for-all on what will be banned. Just call it "sexually explicit" and put it on the stack it on the stack to be burned? 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Flashback: Germany banning books found "inappropriate" by the government. You scoff, but this is how it starts.
  
  
  
• Holy cow, this is real. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Random in-party fighting entertainment. Drinks appear to have been flowing. Video. 
  
  
  
• I just reviewed the bullet points above. A (government) prostitution sting, a Texas secession lawsuit, (government) officials in Oklahoma behind closed doors speaking of killing blacks and reporters, blood being taken at a (government) police station, a (government) prosecutor having a policy of treating Hispanics more harshly, and book banning (by government). Have I mentioned we are headed to a dark place?
• Messenger: Above the Fold
• Remember all the Gov. Abbott led press conferences after Uvalde? The end result was that Uvalde parents had to wait until the middle of the night to testify for a bill that would raise the age to purchase and AR-15 from 18 to 21. A bill which will never pass in Austin . . . 

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

I don't remember this at all, and I can't find the video.  County records show that he was eventually arrested and successfully completed a 20 month probation. He passed away in 2018 at the age of 70.

---

• The network whose business model is to lie to its gullible viewers, is now paying a large fortune for its spreading of Trump's Big Lie.  Finally, there are consequences. 
  

  
  
  
• And there are more lawsuits pending. Dominion still has suits pending against NewsMax, OANN, Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Mike Lindell.  And Fox News is still in the cross-hairs of Smartmatic which also has a defamation suit pending. 
• Everyone has a gun. Everyone seems ready to fire too quickly. Texas cheerleaders were shot in an H-E-B parking lot during a car pool exchange. It all started when one of them mistakenly got into the wrong car where the gunman was sitting. 
  
   
  
  
  
• The most critically injured, Payton Washington who is in ICU, was a Baylor tumbler signee.
  
  
  
• So let's sum up the last few days: (1) Payton Washington is in the ICU, (2) Kaylin Gillis was shot to death for driving into the wrong driveway in New York, and (3) Ralph Yarl was shot in the head for ringing the doorbell at the wrong house in Missouri.
  
  
  
• Thank goodness they didn't open fire on him. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I have no idea if the crazy Irving mom who killed her kids should be found guilty, but I also feel very confident in saying that this State's expert who testified yesterday has no idea either. We should have a verdict today or tomorrow. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Sheriff in Oklahoma who was recorded expressing a desire to kill a reporter and hang black people ended up looking exactly like I expected. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• It's now the seventh anniversary of this wild unsolved murder case.  Don't forget that she graduated from Jacksboro High School in 1988.
  
  
  
• The late Pat Summerall had a home on this property which burned down in 2021 . . . 
  
  
  
• . . . and there still a Google satellite photo showing where Summarall's home was and depicts it after the fire had occurred. 
  
  
  
• What happened to Michael Irvin's silly defamation lawsuit against Marriott?

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

The video of the actual explosion at the West, Texas fertilizer plant is still out there. (Side note: The ATF's proclamation that it was "intentionally set" was always nothing but speculation and PR. They still can't even tell us how exactly it was set and never had a suspect. They are just guessing about the cause.)

---

• The Wise County Sheriff's Office courts and jail database went down in the middle of the night and still is not up.  Edit: Sounds like an Internet company switch over that may take over a day.
• Never forget this guy had a huge press conference and created a web site to deny any wrongdoing, calling it all a "sham."  He is still in office in Collin County as the District Attorney. 
  
  
  
• That's a horrible story. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Mineral Wells story.
  

  

  
  
  
  
• The only comment about the matter on the Star-Telegram page: 
  
  
  
• And so it begins. The new MAGA County Judge Tim O'Hare takes the first steps to control the counting of the ballot box. This comes on the heals of forming a strange three headed club called the "Election Integrity Task Force" along with the MAGA Sheriff and and the new MAGA DA. They've yet to say exactly what they are doing. 
  
  
  
  
• Flashback:
  
  
  
• He's bought all those guns so he might as well come up with some unjustified reason to use it. 
  
  
  
• Detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich appeared in a Moscow courtroom this morning for the first time.
  
  
  
• Look at this little 16 year old who pulled herself up by her own bootstraps and was able to open a business in one of the most expensive commercial real estate areas in America!  Actual quote:  “Honestly, it’s a dream,” her mother said. “It’s uncommon for a 16-year-old girl to open a bakery with her mom. I think it goes to show you that if you have a dream, it can happen.”
  
  
  
• Still think Abbott's announcement of a desire to pardon a convicted murdered -- before he was sentenced no less, and only because the victim was a Black Lives Matter marcher -- should be the legal story of the decade. 
• Video link to an NBA player being stomped in the chest last night which led to an ejection.
  
  
   
• Video link to a hit on a Dallas Stars player last night which seems to be a topic of conversation.
  
  
  
• For you Succession fans only: My hot opinion is that Logan Roy is not dead, it's all an elaborate ruse, and that Tom and Logan's new girlfriend/assistant are in on it.